Advice on chronic urinary problems..

Hello everyone. I have a 4 year old Mackeral tabby cat that has had urinary problems for about 2 years. After about 5 visits to the vet where they were just giving me antibiotics because they said it was a common UTI, a dr said Irwins diet had to be changed. The dr squeezed his bladder and bloody urine came out with sand looking granules in it.

They put him on Hills C/d and he did well for a few months. The flare ups of not be able to urinate stopped. Then out of nowhere Irwin who is neutered, starts spraying. He used to do that when he couldnt pass urine. I went back to the dr and explained that I didnt think his urinary problems were fixed because he sprays when he is ill and it hurts to urinate in the litter box. The dr took x rays and told me his bladder was fine and it was probably just a habit. That was in March.

Last night, Irwin jumps up on the bed and squats and wham, red urine everywhere. It was like him saying, IM SICK AGAIN.

I took him to an animal medical center, and after 568$ I am still discouraged. Their doing a urine analysis, and blood work, the cat still has crystals and hes on CD.

I have to call back on Thursday and the dr will most likely change Irwin to something called "S/O" Is that better for him? He said they dont use CD anymore.

His X rays showed no stones, but the lining of his bladder is thicker then it should be. The dr said this is probably something chronic with him, and we can treat with anti inflammotories and the right diet.

Aotearoa- New Zealand -Kia Ora, Tena Koutou,Haere Mai From the Land of the long white cloud.

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My lexie the black kitty in my siggy had a UTI about two years ago, thankfully because of PT i knew straight away to get her to the vet, she was diagnosed with struvite stones and put on Royal Canin SO, it was a challenge at first to get her to eat them, originally she was put on HILLS, she hated them and became contispated, i dislike Hills myself, Royal canin is supposed to be much more palatable, so far she has been fine, fingers and paws crossed, Irwins problems seem a little different to my lexie, she had no blood at all to be seen,so i am not sure if this would work for Kitty or not, ask your vet,but just wanted you to know i have had success so far, hope kitty gets better soon and stops spraying, sometimes stress or change makes them do that as well. good luck

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Welcome to my world with Pouncer. Life was one long circle of rushes to the vet, medicine, special diet. He was diagnosed with chronic cystitis and I was told to watch that he drank enough water. He was put on special food, antibiotics, steroids to help inflamation, and even a few rounds of valium to help de-stress him.

Round and round we went until he nearly died a couple times. I had enough! I had surgery to turn him into a girl cat (the female opening is larger, therefore crystals don't block and he doesn't get sick as often)

The surgery was in October. It was nearly $1,000. I'd do it all over again because I got my boy back. He's playful and bratty again, opposed to moody and hiding all day long. I still have to take him to the vet for sickness.... only this time instead of blocking he's going for UTI's, which males with this surgery are more susceptible.

Grady had an episode with hematuria and frequency back in May. After 2 separate urinalysis, X-rays and an ultrasound, he was diagnosed with both kinds of crystals. Tried him on almost every prescription diet on the market - he wouldn't go near any of them.

The important thing is giving them lots of fluids. So he gets regular canned food, to which we add about 2 cc of water for every feeding. We even give him water with a syringe - just squirt it in his mouth throughout the day.

Catty1 also suggested cranberry powder. That's been a blessing. I give him approximately 50mg each day - mixed in with his food. I think he likes it. And it did clear up the hematuria.

I know he should be on a special diet - but he is supposed to avoid stressful situations, and that food was a big stress to him.

Good news is he will eat anything, so whatever food they give me, he'll eat for sure and I can mix it with water no problem. Its just a matter of finding a food that wont make him sick.

Im curious, does anyone feed dry to their cats with urinary problems? I read to avoid dry food. Are the crystals ever really gone? Or when you have a cat like this, is it more about minimizing crystals and just trying to flush him out as much as possible.

I really hope the food switch will work. The vet said the S/O food neutralizing the urine. This has been a long battle. This all seems like a band aid over a gushing wound, and we havent gotten to the bottom of it yet.

I asked the vet what is the treatment if this is a chronic thickening of the bladder wall type thing he explained, and he said diet change and maybe low doses of anti inflammatories here and there. That doesnt sound like a 'cure'

The doctor also gave me supplements. He said some people believe the glucosamine helps with cases like this. Its called "Synovi feline" andits a joint care supplement powder.

Pouncer eats dry and wet. I give the wet because he simply won't drink enough throughout the day otherwise. I would prefer no wet food because it causes such a mess with the other cats in the house -- you can't give one cat wet food and not the others. You also can't give one cat different food than the others, so they all eat prescription food. And yes, the prescription food makes a HUGE difference. I noticed whenever I tried to save $20 a month by not giving prescription food, the following month I got a $250 vet bill because opuncer got sick.

Most cats, particularly males tend to have crystals in their urine. Most of the time it doesn't cause any problems, but once in a while it can. Things like stress, Ph balance upset, food changes, infections etc. can cause things to go haywire.

Did the vet that did the urinalysis happen to mention anything about the leukosites (sp?) or Ph balance? Leukosites tend to show infection, and an off Ph balance can lead to infections or stones. Antibiotics would take care of infections and there are meds to help with the Ph balance. My Cami takes one called MethioForm tabs.

At our hospital we use both Hills C/D and Royal Canin S/O with similar success, it's just a matter of which food the cats prefer. You're fortunate that your cat isn't picky. The pet store urinary foods do seem to have some effect on minor urinary problems, but major problems like your cat has requires a special diet which while more expensive will do a better job.

Wet food and plenty of water do help to keep things flushed out. Adding a pet water fountain may help encourage your cat to drink more water as well as using more canned food to add water to the diet.

There has been research into using glucosamine supplements with urinary problems and research suggests it helps. We do use that at our hospital as well although ours is Cosaquin. While I can't say for certain exactly what percent it helps with the problem, it doesn't have bad side effects, and has the added benefit of helping joints stay healthy as the cat ages.

Anytime there is an infection or irritation in the bladder the lining of it will be thicker, and may always be even after the problem gets resolved because of scar tissue.

As a precaution you may want to take regular urine samples to your vet, say like once a month for a while then maybe twice a year once things settle down. That way you are more likely to catch a problem before it gets bad.

In some cases cats can have cronic problems to which no one knows exactly how to 'cure' it. Best thing in those situations is to manage the symptoms as they pop up. I'm sure your vets are just as frustrated as you are with the whole situation with your kitty. Their job is to help animals and they also get frustrated when they can't fix everything.

I hope your vets can find the right food/med combo that helps your kitty from having frequent flare ups. Good luck.

Most cats, particularly males tend to have crystals in their urine. Most of the time it doesn't cause any problems, but once in a while it can. Things like stress, Ph balance upset, food changes, infections etc. can cause things to go haywire.

Did the vet that did the urinalysis happen to mention anything about the leukosites (sp?) or Ph balance? Leukosites tend to show infection, and an off Ph balance can lead to infections or stones. Antibiotics would take care of infections and there are meds to help with the Ph balance. My Cami takes one called MethioForm tabs.

At our hospital we use both Hills C/D and Royal Canin S/O with similar success, it's just a matter of which food the cats prefer. You're fortunate that your cat isn't picky. The pet store urinary foods do seem to have some effect on minor urinary problems, but major problems like your cat has requires a special diet which while more expensive will do a better job.

Wet food and plenty of water do help to keep things flushed out. Adding a pet water fountain may help encourage your cat to drink more water as well as using more canned food to add water to the diet.

There has been research into using glucosamine supplements with urinary problems and research suggests it helps. We do use that at our hospital as well although ours is Cosaquin. While I can't say for certain exactly what percent it helps with the problem, it doesn't have bad side effects, and has the added benefit of helping joints stay healthy as the cat ages.

Anytime there is an infection or irritation in the bladder the lining of it will be thicker, and may always be even after the problem gets resolved because of scar tissue.

As a precaution you may want to take regular urine samples to your vet, say like once a month for a while then maybe twice a year once things settle down. That way you are more likely to catch a problem before it gets bad.

In some cases cats can have cronic problems to which no one knows exactly how to 'cure' it. Best thing in those situations is to manage the symptoms as they pop up. I'm sure your vets are just as frustrated as you are with the whole situation with your kitty. Their job is to help animals and they also get frustrated when they can't fix everything.

I hope your vets can find the right food/med combo that helps your kitty from having frequent flare ups. Good luck.

Thank you, your post was very informative!

I dont remember what kind of crystals they were unfortunately, with the urine analysis because the last one was Feb of 2007. I just remember the doctor telling me he had to be on the CD diet and I was happy that it seemed to work and a few months past where we actually did not need an emergency visit.

Irwin is already on a special diet and I can see the crystals in his urine (which is very dark btw) so that would sound like their Oxilate crystals then? The crystals not helped by diet? Unfortunately my boys arent water drinkers. My females fight over the water bowl and if its empty they will sit in the sink to give you a hint.

This is a new hospital we went to today that has treated some very ill cats Ive taken in off the street so I know their good. They did a urine analysis today and I get the results Thursday so Im sure Ill know more then. He said once we get a look at that, we can go forward with how to treat him. In the meantime he is on antibiotics, anti inflammatories and the supplements. Ill probably end up going back Thursday to pick up the S/O.

The doctor who used to treat Irwin retired so today I gave the new vet the whole story and told him to start from scratch and lets find out whats going on with this cat.

There are actually a large number of different type of crystals, but the two most common being struvite and calcium oxalate. Most, if not all crystals, can be eliminated by specific dietary changes, so the best advice I can give is discuss with your vet about which specific crystals he has and then what diets work best to eliminate those types of crystals.

Calcium oxalate crystals are also common artifacts found from refrigerating urine samples (found some in my dogs in lab the other day from a sample a little over an hour old that I'd refrigerated for a little less than 30 mins), but can have diagnostic value as well. Since you say they obtained the sample from a manual expression and you can see them in his urine when he urinates it isn't likely they are artifact.

Irwin is already on a special diet and I can see the crystals in his urine (which is very dark btw so that would sound like their Oxilate crystals then? The crystals not helped by diet? Unfortunately my boys arent water drinkers. My females fight over the water bowl and if its empty they will sit in the sink to give you a hint.

His urine could be dark because it is concentrated, or that could be old blood. His urine should look like yours does - clear, pale yellow.

I'd suggest a second opinion, with urinalysis done by an in-house lab, which would probably mean bringing him to a major veterinary hospital that doesn't have to send the samples out for testing elsewhere.

Your vet needs to know what kind of crystals they are to know what to do.

In the meantime, there are a lot of different ways to encourage a cat to drink more water and help dissolve the crystals. A lot of cats really enjoy drinking from a water fountain that keeps the water moving. My little scaredycat was actually afraid of a fountain, but turned out to vastly prefer drinking from a glass bowl in the living room to drinking from a steel bowl in the kitchen! You just never know.

He now also gets a joint supplement called Cosequin, that turns out to also be good for urinary complaints - and HUMANS were the "guinea pigs!" Some smart doctor noticed that female humans who took glucosamine and chondroitin (the ingredients of Cosequin) for their joints stopped having such frequent urinary problems. It turns out that glucosamine/chondroitin strengthens the protective glycosaminoglycan (GAG) inner layer of the bladder and urethra, so cats who've had urinary problems in the past often get joint supplements because they help with that too.